It seems ChatGPT is the “next big thing.” But is ai-written text great for writing the best job descriptions?
You can use it, but I recommend using it with other tools for optimizing JDs.
I did a test to show you why.
My first step was prompting OpenAI ChatGPT to “Write me a job description for a Sales & Marketing Specialist.”
In less than 30 seconds, I had a job description with a Company Overview, Job Overview, Responsibilities, and Requirements. I also got a short blurb about “competitive salary and benefits.”
Did ChatGPT Create the Best Job Descriptions?
My initial thought was, “wow that’s fast!”
But, when I copied the text into Ongig’s Text Analyzer, I noticed a few issues/suggestions you won’t find in ChatGPT:
- Text Analyzer suggests you try using the job title “Marketing Analyst” — because 75% more people Google search that title each month than “Sales & Marketing Specialist.”
- The JD scored 19.4/100 for Gender Bias — because 69% of the words used are considered “masculine-coded.”
- The JD scored 56.9/100 for Readability — because it reads at a grade level of 11 and has sentences with more than 20-30 syllables.
- The “Requirements” section has more than 7 bullets — this may deter women and neurodivergent applicants from applying.
- The JD is missing some key sections candidates care about — Diversity & Inclusion, Flex Location, Mission Statement, etc.
This is why you should supplement ChatGPT with a tool like Text Analyzer. Yes, ChatGPT is fast, but some missing elements will likely affect your application rates, especially with diverse talent.
After my initial test, I dug deeper by giving ChatGPT more prompts to fine-tune the same job description.
For fun, I used the ChatGPT prompt “now write the same job description in the voice of Snoop Dog.”
Here’s what I got from trying to use AI to create the best job descriptions…
I found it interesting that this ChatGPT job description got the highest overall score out of the 7 outputs I used.
The overall score was 76.8/100, and it got a 100/100 for Readability because it reads at a 6.2-grade level (8th grade is ideal) and uses significantly few complex words and adverbs (the fewer of these you use, the better).
But, Text Analyzer still found some issues:
- The JD scored 22.5/100 for Gender Bias — because 67% of the words used are considered “masculine-coded.” Only a 2% drop from the original JD.
- The “Requirements” section has more than 7 bullets — Snoop Dog’s version still may deter women and neurodivergent applicants from clicking “apply.”
- The JD is still missing some key sections candidates care about — Diversity & Inclusion, Flex Location, Mission Statement, etc.
- The JD uses the potentially exclusionary word “mad” — Even though Snoop meant “mad skills,” as in “a lot of skills,”…the word “mad” might reinforce stereotypes of people with a mental health condition as “unwell” (especially in the UK).
The other 5 prompts I used to guide ChatGPT were:
- First prompt: “Now re-write the original job description to be more concise and readable.”
- Second prompt: “Now re-write this job description to remove masculine-coded words and bias.”
- Third prompt: “Now re-write this job description to include a real salary range and less “requirements””
- Fourth prompt: “Now re-write this job description, so it has between 300-700 words, no gender-coded words, or other biased words, a short list of requirements, and a section about salary and benefits.”
- Fifth prompt: “Now re-write this job description, so it is more conversational.”
Overall, ChatGPT mostly followed the prompts and improved the areas I asked about, but in all cases, the JDs still:
- have a higher percentage of masculine-coded words than feminine-coded or neutral words
- still read at a grade level of 10 or higher (except for the Snoop Dog JD)
- were missing key sections like detailed salary & benefits information, diversity statements, and flex location (aka hybrid or remote work options)
Based on my test, the use of ChatGPT is ok for JDs. But, I would not drop every job description tool to use ChatGPT alone. If you use it, try it in tandem with a tool like Text Analyzer to ensure your JDs are readable, effective, consistent, and bias-free.
Why I Wrote This:
Ongig’s mission is to create effective and inclusive job descriptions. Part of that mission is to help improve your workflow so you can write the best JDs fast, and at scale. Please request a free demo if you’d like to learn more about Text Analyzer.
